Best Budget Hard Drive For Ps4
Seagate Barracuda 2TB
If youre on a tighter budget then you can ditch the hybrid portion of the hard disk and opt for a conventional drive. This wont deliver much of a performance boost over the PS4s normal hard disks, but Seagates drives are certainly no slower.
Theyre available in loads of capacities, but 2TB is as high as you can go before the drives become too thick to fit inside Sonys consoles. The prices on offer are tempting: a 1TB model costs just $50, and the 2TB model is the best-value option thanks to a price of $77.
Six: Swap The Hard Drives And Replace
Once you’ve freed up the original hard drive, it’s simply a case of putting your new hard disk or SSD inside, then reversing the process you’ve just performed. So put those four screws in the sides, get the caddy back in the PS4, fasten it in place with the large screw and put the shiny plastic HDD cover back on the PS4.
If you have the PS4 Slim or PS4 Pro, the process will be the same. Place the hard drive or SSD into the caddy, secure, then slot it back into the Slim or Pro console, screw it in, and replace the plastic cover.
If the hard drive or SSD doesn’t fit, are you sure you checked it was a 9.5mm-tall or less 2.5-inch SATA drive before buying?
Should the process go as swimmingly as it went with us, you should be done within 15 minutes.
How To Add More Storage To Your Playstation 4
Here’s how to get a bigger hard drive in your PS4, plus a few tips we learned along the way.
Storage space is at a premium with game consoles. Even if you’re more inclined to pick up hard copies than download full games, patches, DLC and installs can fill up the standard hard drive on your PlayStation very quickly.
On the bright side, it’s very easy to add more storage to your console. You can either replace your current hard drive with a new one or, since software update 4.50, simply connect an external one.
Read Also: When Does Doomfist Come Out On Ps4
Seagate Expansion Portable: The Best Value Hdd For Ps4
Price: £44 , £57 , £92 , £97 |
Its not the fastest drive and far from the most stylish, but the Expansion Portable gives you exactly what you need for your PS4: decent speeds and plenty of storage. The 2TB version reaches read speeds of 132MB/sec and write speeds of 129MB/sec, both of which are in excess of the 120MB/sec quoted and perfectly respectable for a portable HDD. And while its a chunky little slab of plastic, its well-built and very quiet. Unless youre desperate for a proper gaming drive, theres little reason to spend more and the 4TB and 5TB versions are an absolute steal.0
Key specs Type: Portable HDD Connectivity: USB 3 Spindle speed: 5,400RPM Size: 117 x 80 x 15mm
Price: £88 , £140 , £275 |
Key specs Type: Portable SSD Connectivity: USB 3.2 Gen2 Spindle speed: N/A Size: 74 x 57 x 11mm
Price: 8TB, £137 |
Key specs Type: Desktop HDD Connectivity: USB 3 Spindle speed: 5400rpm Size: 179 x 119 x 41mm
Price: 2TB, £76 4TB, £98 5TB, £133 | Buy now from Ebuyer
Western Digitals Black line of HDDs has always had a good reputation with PC gamers, but this is its first foray into the console gaming world. Not only do you get rugged build quality and a cool, industrial design, but you have more choice when it comes to capacity, with 5TB drives available for just over £100. If you don’t mind setting aside a mains socket, the P10 also comes in larger 8TB and 12TB sizes as a desktop hard drive.
Price: 2TB, £80 4TB, £113 |
Price: 2TB, £70 |
Best Hard Drive For Ps4
Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSHD 2TB
If you want to upgrade your PS4 hard drive and are looking for the best hard drive option right now, then you should seek out an SSHD. These drives combine platter-based storage with smaller, faster portions of flash memory, and they learn which files you use frequently and move them to the faster flash storage so they can be loaded faster.
If you play the same games frequently, youll see a performance improvement. The 2TB capacity means that youll get loads of extra space even if the games you install dont benefit from the flash memory portion of the drive, and itll certainly never be slower than the PS4s internal drives. Its not particularly expensive, either.
You May Like: How Do I Know My Ps4 Controller Is Charging
How To Make Ps4 Faster
Do you ever wish you could magically make your Playstation 4 run faster? We can relate.
Slow downloads + nonstop game lag = inevitable rage-quitting
Check out these tips for a few accessible changes that could speed up your PS4 console and improve gameplay: switching to a hardwired connection, freeing up disk space, rebuilding your database, and upgrading to an SSD.
Replace The Hard Drive
Don’t Miss: How To Duck In Gta 5 Ps4
Deleting Saved Data From The Ps4
You can also delete saved data to save up a couple of gigabytes. Herere the instructions:
You can repeat the process to delete saved data stored online or on an external HDD drive / USB flash drive.
Benefits Of Upgrading Ps4 Storage
Upgrading PS4 storage by replacing the stock hard drive with a newer and more powerful drive has several appealing benefits. Thats why I prioritize it over the other method that just gives you more storage without any noticeable performance benefits.
Theres only one major benefit of upgrading PS4 storage, that you get rid of the slow, unreliable PS4 stock hard drive in favor of a more powerful drive. This will enhance your gaming experience with PS4 and improve the performance of your console, beside getting more storage space. This is totally worth it if you do care about how your PS4 performs. Otherwise, the easiest and quickest way to get more storage for PS4 is just to add an external storage device. I have made a quick comparison between two methods in this article. Also, in our PS4 storage upgrade guide youll find valuable information on this subject.
Also Check: How Long Does It Take A Ps4 Controller To Charge
How To Get More Storage On Ps4 Here Are Top 5 Solutions
With the increase of game files, you have to take some measures for PS4 storage expansion. How to get more storage on PS4? If you are trying to expand PS4 storage, this post of MiniTool is what you need.
For an earlier PlayStation 4 system, it can only save 12 to 15 games on the PS4 storage. However, the game file sizes are getting bigger and bigger. For instance, requires 175GB hard drive space at least and Red Dead Redemption 2 requires 150GB storage space.
If you want to install many popular games on the PS4, you need to create more storage space. What is using your PS4 storage? How to get more storage on PS4? Now, lets start exploring these questions.
The Easy Way: How To Expand Your Ps4 Drive Via An External Usb 30 Hdd
The easiest way to increase the storage of your PS4, whether it be the original model, 2016 refresh or a PS4 Pro, is to add a USB 3.0 hard drive to your setup.
Any USB 3.0 drive will do the job and the PS4 supports drives up to 8TB in size.
We chose a dedicated PS4 edition of the Seagate Game Drive with 4TB of space. It’s great value at under £100 and is designed to match the PS4 perfectly.
Another great alternative is a WD_Black P10 Game Drive, which is specifically designed for gamers and costs only a little more for up to 5TB.
Whichever you choose, to get it work with your PS4, just plug it into any of the three USB 3.0 ports. We chose one of the rear ports to tuck it out of the way.
You then need to head to the Settings menu in order to format the drive to work as external storage. Head to Devices, then USB Storage Devices. You should see your new drive listed on the next screen.
The PS4 will automatically set your external drive to be the default to install games on.
If you want to use your internal drive instead, go back into the Settings menu, head to Storage and press Options. You will have the option to choose between the internal and external drive as the game installation location.
Recommended Reading: When Will Ps5 Be Available For Preorder
Power Off And Unplug Your Ps4
First, shut down your PS4 completely. Make sure that the light on the system is off if it’s orange, then it’s in Rest Mode and you need to start it up again so you can fully shut down your PS4. To do this, press and hold the Power button on the console until you hear two beeps.
Once it’s fully shut down, with no lights showing, remove all cables and USB devices from your system.
Add More Space To Ps4
If you cannot free up enough space for the PS4 even after trying the 3 mentioned methods above, you might as well consider adding extra space to PS4 replacing the old 500GB hard drive with a 1TB, or even larger one.
Before installing the new large hard drive on the PS4 to replace the old almost full one, it is necessary to transfer all game data from the old disk to the new disk since nobody wants to spend time and energy to reinstall those games from scratch. To finish this data transfer task, the easiest way is to clone the old hard drive to the new one via a professional disk clone tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard which is able to clone a disk to another within only a few steps.
This software supports 2 kinds of clone methods and they are Clone Disk Quickly which clones only used space and allows to adjust the size of partitions and Sector by Sector clone that clones all sectors to the other disk whether used or not. Meanwhile, this AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is free from popup ads and bundleware which guarantees better user experience compared to its counterparts.
Tip: Besides disk clone, the software can also convert your USB drive from NTFS to FAT32 to make it compatible with PS4.
Why is my PS4 Storage full? Now, download this freeware to clone the old PS4 hard drive to the new one.
Step 1. Connect both the old and the new hard drives to a computer. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.
Read Also: How To Find Diamonds In Minecraft Ps4
How To Replace The Hard Drive On Your Ps4 Pro
The PS4 Pro hard drive is functionally almost identical to the PS4 for replacement purposes. The only real differences are in the location of the hard drive in the chassis and the shape of the mounting bracket. First, follow steps 1-6 above. Before beginning, be sure your PS4 is powered down and unplugged.
The Pro Hard drive is hidden behind this panel on the back of the PlayStaton 4 Pro.The tab to gently remove the plastic is near the Ethernet port. Pull the tab to reveal the HDD bay.
You will see a single screw. Remove it carefully with a Phillips-head screwdriver to open the bay.
Slip the hard drive out. You’ll now need to remove it from its mounting bracket by unscrewing the four screws holding it in position.
Replace the hard drive with your new drive in the mount, matching up the mounting points and gently replacing the screws.
Slide it gently but firmly into the HDD slot and secure the screw into the PS4 Pro case, then replace the plastic panel. Then proceed with steps 12 and beyond from above. Make sure you have that Flash drive near by!
Replace The Ps4 Hard Drive
Now, you can replace your PS4 hard drive with the new one that you just backed up to. Heres how to do that:
Step 1. Turn off your PS4 completely and disconnect any power cables.
Step 2. If you are using a PS4 Pro, remove the case on the rear or on the top left chassis on a PS4.
Step 3. Take out the hard drive bracket using a screwdriver.
Step 4. Remove all the screws holding the hard drive in the bracket and replace the current hard drive with the new one.
Step 5. Make every part restore to its original positions.
Also Check: Is Fortnite Going To Be On Ps5
How To Free Up Space On Ps4
You can free up storage by deleting applications, screenshots, saved data, themes, and games. Of course, were leaving out games, but all of this works through the same menu.
The second option is plugging an external HDD drive. The PS4 should recognize a compatible option automatically and prompt you to format the drive. Then, youd be able to use it to store apps and add-ons.
Like the Xbox One or Xbox Series, the PS4 allows you to install and play games on external drives, so the second option is perhaps the best.
Still, theres a third option. You can install a larger drive on your PS4. You can pick up, for example, a 2TB HDD drive and expand your internal storage. However, you would lose the data within the internal drive unless you back it up on an external HDD or a USB flash drive.
Make A Backup Of Your Information
Connect your USB flash drive or external hard drive to a USB port on your PS4. Go to Settings/System/Systems backup and restore and select backup PS4. This can take up to an hour. If you only want to transfer your save games, it’s also possible to upload them to your PlayStation Plus Account. If you have an active PS Plus subscription, navigate to Settings/ Application Saved Data Management Tool/Saved Data in System Storage/Upload to Online Storage. Select the save games you want to transfer and click the Upload button.
Also Check: How To Save In Ark Ps4
Your Ps4 Drive Is Upgraded
Now you have plenty of space, a slight speed boost, or both added to your PS4âand it took less than an hour. It’s great that Sony made upgrading the HDD in the PS4 so easy, letting you easily get more space after downloading lots of games.
As an added bonus, you now have an extra HDD you can use for several purposes. You could buy an enclosure and turn it into an external hard drive, add it to your PC as a backup, or do something totally different.
How Do I Make Space On My Ps4 To Install A New Game
There are multiple ways to free up memory when installing a new game. If you would like to install the game to the PS4 system storage, you may need to delete some applications. Don’t worry, you won’t lose access to any deleted games you can redownload the application from your Library whenever you like.
If you don’t want to delete the existing games in PS4 system storage, you can download the new game using an external HDD, or upgrade the existing PS4 HDD. Please select the appropriate guide below for further instructions.
Don’t Miss: How To Cast To Ps4
How To Delete Your Game Files On A Ps4
When you delete a game, it usually leaves your saved game files and other game settings on the PS4 in case you later reinstall the game. If you’re sure you don’t want your game files, you can delete them as well.
1. On the home screen, select “Settings.”
2. Select “Application Saved Data Management.”
3. Select “Saved Data in System Storage.”
4. Select “Delete.”
5. Choose the game you want to delete.
6. On the Saved Game Data page, choose the game files you want to delete .
How To Free Up Space On Your Playstation 4
Chris Hoffman
Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He’s written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris has written for The New York Times and Reader’s Digest, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami’s NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than one billion times—and that’s just here at How-To Geek. Read more…
Sonys PlayStation 4 includes a 500GB hard drive, but games are getting bigger and biggerGrand Theft Auto V alone requires 50GB of space on the hard drive, even if you have the disc. Heres how to free up spaceand upgrade your PS4s storage capacity so you can fit more games.
Also Check: How To Add Friends On Fortnite Ps4